Thanks for the link, I read it but I was looking for evidence from surveys or scientific studies rather than anecdotal evidence. Also to be clear, I accept that some straight MtF’s have ‘autogynephilia’, but having done some more reading the evidence disputes the claim that all straight MtF’s have autogynephilia. This is what I was originally questioning. I’m a scientist by trade so I also ask anyone making surprising claims for evidence. Anyone denying biological sex is just ignorant and I’m firmly against extremist TRA’s who try and invade women only spaces and promote harmful ideology. I’m not sure why you assumed I would be on their side.

Any conclusions gained from transgender studies are obviously contentious, and we need more data to make firm conclusions at present. As a sidenote, I’m also wary of salience bias when it comes to TRAS’s online, because we all tend to notice the loudest, most surreal and most dangerous behaviours and ideas coming from them and this can distort our perception of transgender people in general. I totally understand how spending time on Reddit, Saidit and Twitter etc. can make it seem like the world is full of men pretending to be females for nefarious reasons, but the reality is this is very rare.

Having done some more research, Blanchard’s hypothesis (the idea that all transwomen are either straight men who get turned on by the idea themselves as women, or gay men) doesn’t generally appear to be supported by the scientific literature. There are heaps of valid criticisms of aspects of the hypothesis and studies which refute it [1]. The main rebuttal is the idea that all straight MtF’s experience autogynephilia. While Blanchard’s own studies found that the majority of straight MtF’s experience autogynephilia, they also found that a substantial minority didn’t experience it, directly contradicting the central premise of the hypothesis. Other studies have similar findings (see links in [1]).

There are also problems with how ‘autogynephilia’ (which remember is a term coined by Blanchard) is categorised. For example, if a subject has ever reported, for example, sexual arousal whilst putting on women’s clothing, they might be classed as having autogynephilia, despite these feelings not necessarily being a consistent aspect of their sexuality. One obvious criticism I share is that his earlier research didn’t include controls to assess levels of autogynephilia amongst non-trans people. For example, the majority of straight men might also exhibit some autogynephilic tendencies according to Blanchard’s criteria, but as far as I’m aware we just don’t know. Also, the idea that autogynephilia is exclusive to males is challenged by a study that found that found over 90% of (biological) women experienced autogynephilia (using Blanchard’s criteria).[2]

[1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00918369.2010.486241 [2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26660017_Autogynephilia_in_Women